The B-52's - Funplex
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details
Artist: The B-52'sEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-03-25
Music Label: Astralwerks
Soundtracks:
- Pump
- Hot Corner
- Ultraviolet
- Juliet of the Spirits
- Funplex
- Eyes Wide Open
- Love in the Year 3000
- Deviant Ingredient
- Too Much to Think About
- Dancing Now
- Keep This Party Going
Music reviews of Funplex
Music Review: "I'm at the mall on a diet pill"
Rating: 4 Stars
I first saw this group at the PNC Arts Center in New Jersey and "Fun" was had by all. That was about six years ago. Thought that they might have had a contemporaneous new album out; I was aware that it was a "Comeback" of sorts - although not a comeback in the sense that when they regularly issued albums/CDs (?), they were known as big charters.
Whether or not you also saw their "comeback"/resurgence in New Jersey, or bought their first album in '79, this CD has alot going for it.
Maybe too much: The CD could have kicked off with "Juliet Of The Spirits", one of the greatest (new) recordings I've heard in years. Many years. With some lyrics that T. S. Eliot would re-read and some sounds that Abba would envy. Vocalist-narrator Schneider lays out on this one, exquisitly rendered by Pierson and Wilson. Multi-Musician Strickland should be recognized for strong support here; in good taste, too.
"Eyes Wide Open" has less sonic density but is another standout. "Deviant Ingredient" is a nice mid-'80s throwback (okay, "retro" opus), MTV in mind? (That still on?...).
"Keep This Party Going" is a faster uptempo, good for the stage or the car speakers.
This uninitiated listener hears a somewhat monochromatic sound throughout, though the "comic strip" backdrop allows. Guess I can't expect a "Let's change the pace...here's a great ballad by Jimmy Webb".
Artwork and design very nice, though the all-important lyrics are difficult to read in low-light.
Much credit should be given to Producer Steve Osborne. A Grammy-Award nomination should be extended to him. Also to the person who mixed the CD. But I can't read his name!
Description of Funplex
Along with producer Steve Osborne (New Order, Happy Mondays, Doves) the band have created an album as cutting edge, distinctive & danceable as their debut album in 1979. The B-52's influence cuts a wide path through much of so-called Modern Rock-- from the low-fi efforts of nouveau garage bands and the Retro-Hip of Ultra-Lounge to the very ascendance of Dance music itself. Twenty years and 20 million albums into a career that began as a low-rent lark in Athens, Georgia, the B-52's remain the most unlikely Pop superstars ever. The first band to glorify Pop culture with an almost Warholian sense of purpose, their absurd B-movie style and off-kilter sound celebrated the weirdness lurking just beneath the surface of Americana. EMI. 2008.16 years between albums is a gap virtually unprecedented in modern music, so no surprises that the first question you want to know about Funplex is: how does it sound? Going on the opening track "Pump", you'd be forgiven for thinking not at all: there's Fred Schneider's delirious, delightfully unselfconscious shout, there's Kate and Cindy whooping like dropout cheerleaders, there's the enjoyably garish mish-mash of early rock'n'roll, B-movie kitsch and surfboard funk that's been the group's stock in trade since their emergence in the new-wave boom of the mid-'70s. Deeper into Funplex, though, there's evidence of a new electronic edge, which can be owed in part to the input of producer Steve Osbourne, who's previously worked with New Order and Sophie Ellis Bextor. At times, the presence of dance beats, echoing effects, and pulsing synthesiser make Funplex feel a little clinically handled, like a B-52s remix. But it's worth admission just for the glorious title track, a chaotic cops'n'hippies dust-up at the mall, and the mighty "Ultraviolet". "Keep doing what we're doing cos we're doing it right!" shouts Fred. "Four miles to a breakdown!" shout Kate and Cindy. 16 years on, the party's still going. - Louis Pattison
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